THE AVERTED ENGLISH STRIKE

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6362, 9 November 1907, Page 8

THE AVERTED ENGLISH STRIKE

Though the good news contained in yesterday’s cablegrams was not unexpected, it produced a genuine feeling of relief in New Zealand. We have been all along hopeful that the difficulty which had arisen between the railway companies and their employees would bo settled without recourse to the perilous methods of the strike. In September, wo ventured to say that the good influence of tho moans adopted in this country to prevent industrial war had been felt in the Old Country, and on tho Bth of last month an article on the same subject in this column contained the following sentences;—“Anything so acute in character as the railway difficulty under notice would, a few years ago, have produced a disastrous conflict—-disas-trous alike to Labour and to the complicated series of industries dependent upon tho maintenance of efficient communication. As it is, tho caution that belongs to knowledge has steadily kept the ervil in check. . . . There should ho no serious obstacle in tho way of constituting a tribunal for deciding the case upon its merits, . and this is what we may reasonably hope to see accomplished.” The modus yivondi indicated hero has been adopted, thanks to the faithful and persistent efforts of tho President of the Board of Trade, aided, we may well believe, by the president of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants. It is peculiarly gratifying to all, interests and to all observers in the Empire to find that King Edward’s gracious influence has also been at work. Tiro King has already earned for himself, the title of “tho Peacemaker” in tho larger world of international affairs, but there is little doubt that his Majesty will derive quite as much satisfaction from the success of his efforts to preserve the industrial peace of his realm .as he does from the fact that he has done more than any other individual to keep tho fleets, and armies of the civilised world in a state of quiescence.

As to the question at issue between the railway men and their employers, the compromise effected is ono that the latter have been able to make without any loss of their amour propre, while the men have gained a point of the greatest importance. The railway companies have all along objected to deal with the official union representatives, though they have time after time expressed their readiness to meet the employees as such and to listen to their grievances. The solution evolved by Mr Idoyd-George and his coadjutors is a scheme which leaves the unions out of the calculation, but provides for the setting up of Conciliation Boards representing both interests, and thus puts the men upon a much more satisfactory footing than they could ha ve occupied had they consented in the first instance to approach the companies as suppliants. These Conciliation Boards, representative of every group of workers, will deal with the questions of hours and wages, and in the event of any disputes the matter wilt be referred to an arbitrator appointed by the Speaker Of the House of Commons and the Master of the Bolls. The . scheme certainly promises results greater in scope and value than anything the men could have expected to flow from a conference. It prao--1 tically amounts to the system which has been in operation in New Zealand, or rather to- the reformed version of our system embodied in the new Bill prepared by Mr Millar. In other words the English Boards of Conciliation will resemble the “Wages Boards designed by our Minister of Labour, rather than the Conciliation Boards which are part of the machinery of our existing law. Until fuller particulars come to hand it will not he possible to criticise that part of the arrangement under which the trade' unions are excluded. The proposals, as a whole, have been accepted by the men’s representatives; Mr Bell, the secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Baihvay Servants, has stated that it will be satisfactory | to all concerned, and Lord Claud Hamilton, chairman of the Eailway Directors’ Association, describes it aa very satisfactory, especially to non-unionists. So far so good, but it cannot bo supposed that any settlement which ignores unionism will be permanently effective. The “Manchester Guardian,” referring to the subject in a leading n r tide,on the 17th September, said:— “The companies may fairly be asked to overcome now the main difficulty, which could not, anyhgw, be long postponed, of reconciling themselves to dealing with trade unionism. To think that the modern wave of trade unionism will ever recede is not serious business. Whether one likes it or not, one might as well expect English women to go back to where they stood before the Married Women’s Property Act as expect English workmen to re-

nounoo collective bargaining. And those employers who have. dealt most with trade unionism dread it, on the whole, the least.” The experiences of New Zealand are/in agreement with this, hut the conditions here are r not on all fours with those in England. If trade unionism wants to have its claims sanctioned, that must be done by express legislative enactment, and the same law that recognises the claims of the unions must also define their obligations. The right to invoke the law involves obedience to the law. The i history of the averted strike in England demonstrates that the men are willing to accept such terms, and the immediate sequel to the proceedings now happily terminated should be the introduction in the British Parliament of a Conciliation and Arbitration Bill.